THE leader of the Shua Arab in Edo State, Alhaji Idris Adanno, has cleared the air on the controversy trailing the purported plan to coronate a sultan of Shua Arab in Benin City, which has elicited condemnation from the public and the state government issuing a ban on the coronation.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City on Friday morning, Adanno, who is at the centre of the controversy, declared their absolute loyalty to the state government and the Oba of Benin Oba Ewuare II, who he said is their father.
“The whole issue was misunderstood because of the language used. All the tribes from the North who are resident in Edo State are all under the Sarkin Hausawa but we all now have our individual sarkin like those of Kanuri, Nupe and others.
“In our Shua language, sultan is our own sarkin and we only wanted to celebrate my appointment as the head of Shua Arab in Benin because we are the second largest local ethnic group from the North. We are all under Sarkin Hausawa of Benin who gave us an introductory letter which we submitted to the governor of the state, the Oba of Benin and the Secretary to State Government.
“We are all law-abiding citizens and under the laws of the state. We are also loyal to our royal father, the Oba of Benin, who is a father to all of us. We are apologise to the state government for the mix-up and as law-abiding citizens, we have also cancelled all the activities we wanted to do as directed by the state government.”
Corroborating this position, the Sarkin Hausawa of Benin, Alhaji Adamu Isa, said the whole incident was because of the choice of language.
He said, “They are a community resident in Edo and they have a large percentage of their people here too, they are into cattle breeding and other businesses. The thing is misuse of language from them. About five months ago, they came to me that since they are large, they want to have a traditional head; so I told them to go and look for someone among.
